Investigating Scott Turow

In the best-selling Presumed Innocent, a Midwestern prosecutor is falsely accused of murder. Now a federal appeals court has ordered that the author, Scott Turow, himself be investigated for possible obstruction of justice.

While working in 1983 as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago probing corruption, Turow okayed the wiring of a Miami attorney turned informant. The hookup recorded conversations between the lawyer and a client then on trial in an unrelated case. This, declared the court, was "reprehensible." Currently in private practice, Turow angrily insists -- with the support of Chicago's U.S. Attorney -- that his decision was both proper and approved by higher-ups. The denouement to this real tale of tattle will take months to unwind.